A Mystery to the Both of Them

Title: A Mystery to the Both of Them

Chapter: Running from the Fans

SeriesNobuta wo Produce

Pairing: Shuji to Akira

Genre: Romance, Comedy, and if you squint really hard until everything goes all blurry and you're almost blind, a little bit of angst. Maybe -.-;

Rating: PG-13 for now, maybe going up to NC-17 in later chapter. Again, maybe. If you like it enough, I'll attempt a lemon.

Warning: Shuji's pervy libido. Kebai girls with Gay-dars.LOTS OF FLUFF. It might also be a little OOC, since I am trying to make Akira himself (i.e., hopelessly spazzy and cute) without losing the hidden depth he has. Also, I tried my best with Shuji; they are both extremely dynamic characters and very difficult to write well. You tell me if I did okay, please. Creation of words like "vortex-y" Possible future smut. Please, please, please comment!

Dedicated to: Two of my favourite people in this world; Meru, for saving me from the hell that is solitude; and Marjorie, who spoke to me when others pretended I was air. Thank you for being among my precious people.

A/N: On the fic, yes…this one…um…just read it. Its better if I don't ruin anything by explaining it. I'll shut up now. -.-; Wait! Um, just so you know ahead of time, I have NOTHING against fangirls. Hell, I am a fangirl! I exaggerated them in this for comic effect, so please don't kill me. Oh, and I also want to mention how happy I am that I finally bought Nobuta wo Produce on DVD at an Asian drama store. Go me! w

Running from the Fans

"Ne, Shuuji kun…I have something to tell you…"

"Huh?" said Shuji puzzled at the suddenly nervous and very serious look on Akira's face. Whatever it was, it had to be extremely important, if it made the usually psychotically happy Akira look this worried. He stared at the other boy. "What is it? Something wrong?"

Akira bit his bottom lip nervously. It was now or never, he had to say it. Shuji needed the truth, and Akira needed to tell him, before he lost his nerve.

Shuji continued to stare at Akira. Only now, he found himself unable to look away, for the third time that day. The image of Akira biting his lips till they were swollen, and looking at Shuji with chocolaty brown eyes full of doubt and worry was definitely not helping.

'What the hell he wrong with me?! Why can't I stop staring at him?! This is so stupid, he's Akira for god's sake! AKIRA! There's no reason I should be staring, so why the hell can't I stop, damn it?!' he thought angrily. 'And why the hell isn't he talking yet? Stop biting your lips, it's distracting me!!!'

But the last mental request did not reach Akira, who bit even harder, rolling the soft flesh of his lip between his teeth and also started fiddling with his wet uniform jacket. At that rate, Shuji wouldn't be able to hear what Akira was saying at all, through the visual loudness of Akira's lip chewing.

Akira was having trouble saying anything. This was harder than he thought it would be; trying to think of a way to tell Shuji, without causing the latter to run screaming in panic in the opposite direction. Who knew confessing your love to someone you saw and spoke comfortably to every day could be so hard? But then, most people confessed to people that weren't their best friend. Or the of same gender, for that matter. The gender thing could prove to be problematic in many cases. Needless to say, Akira was worried as hell.

Shuji frowned. Akira still hadn't answered. He seemed to be thinking about something. Shuji was about to shake the boy till he told him, when Akira seemed to snap out of it, and stopped abusing his almost bruised lip. "Ah, Shuji, gomen ne. Betsuni, betsuni…I just need to tell you something. It's…sort of important. Ano, Shuuji-kun…how do you-"he was suddenly cut off by the sound of a ringtone that resembled a song by some or other popular rockstar. Akira vaguely remembered that his name started with a "G" and was one of those people who insisted on it being written in English. The man seemed to like saying words like 'motto', 'hayaku' and - Akira blushed - 'ikura!' The ringtone was coming from the duo's bags, which they had wisely removed before proceeding to fool around on the beach.

Akira stopped worrying for a moment and looked at Shuji, who was obviously extremely embarrassed that his best friend had just discovered his secret love of Gackt songs. Shuji grabbed for his phone, dropping it twice, before he finally opened it and pressed the green button.

"M-moshi moshi? Ah, Dad! What is it? …Mom is home?" he said, surprised. His mother was rarely ever home, so he usually only found out later when he spotted her passed out on the couch from jet-lag. And besides, he had seem her only yesterday, so it was odd that she was home again already, especially since they hadn't finished packing yet. "Oh, her flight was cancelled? Okay. Well, what does she want for dinner?" he asked. He twirled his long brown hair slightly as his dad explained that he had distinctly heard the woman say "Udon" several times in her sleep. Akira giggled at the sight; Shuji looked like a schoolgirl receiving the latest gossip from one of her chatty friends. He was twirling his hair in a very

Shuji noticed that Akira seemed to find something about his phone conversation amusing, and sent the other boy a death glare, which slid off Akira like water off a duck. "You want me to pick up some udon on my way home?" he continued. "Um, if I can find a store, I could. Uhuh, ja ne!" Shuji pressed the red button of his phone and threw the thing back into his bag with a disappointed sigh. He had wanted to stay here a little longer with Akira, even if he was getting really cold from the wet clothing that was starting to cling to his slim frame. He realized suddenly that Akira still wanted to talk to him about something.

"What were you going to tell me before the phone rang?" he asked, trying not to look Akira directly in the eyes, just in case the baka started going all puppy dog-eyed and bit his lip again. Shuji's brain was not capable of handling any more of that today. He felt that the day was weird enough without his best friend making him go all mushy with that unreasonably cute face of his.

"Oh, that! Yes! Uh…well, it's like…I…" he tried. "Ano…I think I should tell you some other time. Now is not the best time." he finished, finally accepting the fact that the moment of bravery had flown out the window the second Shuji's phone rang. 'What am I thinking?!' he thought to himself. 'I can't tell Shuji-kun now, he just got here, and…and…and…I just can't tell him now!' His hand kon konned at him harshly for acting so carelessly. Shuji watched as Akira appeared to argue briefly with his hand. If he were anyone else, Shuji might have found it odd or maybe even a little creepy, but this had slowly become his idea of "normal". Well, for Akira, that is.

"Okay…well, whatever," said Shuji with a shrug. "Uh, I have to go to the store and make dinner. You wouldn't happen to know where the best place to get groceries around here is, would you?" asked Shuji. Akira looked away from his hand puppet to grin widely at Shuji. He had gone shopping yesterday. "That depends, can Akira stay for dinner daccha?" he said with a soft poke at Shuji's cheek.

The long-haired boy swatted at the offending hand and groaned. He wanted to go home and think about everything that had happened today. Heaven knows he needed to figure it all out. Especially why the hell Akira had suddenly turned into a magnet for his eyes. But fair was fair; He didn't know the area, and Akira was living alone now, so he was probably going to need something other than bachelor food and soy milk. And as much as he hated to admit it (even if only to himself), he liked having Akira over. His only real concern was that Koji might start to imitate the idiot.

"Okay, fine. But just 'cause I don't know where to buy food. Don't expect to eat with us every night okay?" said Shuji. Akira nodded ecstatically. "Hai! Wakata, Shuuji kun! Shoppiiiing! We're going shopping Shuji-kun!!! SHOOPPPPING!" he yelled, running across the beach towards their bikes. "Oh, we can buy lots of MAMECHICHI AND CANDY SHUUJI-KUN!" Shuji just shook his head and followed the bouncing teen to their bikes, wondering for the thousandth time how they had ended up as best friends.

They had gone shopping, and somehow Akira had convinced him to get a large bag of mixed sour candies. ("LOOK! Shuuji-kun! They have worms that come in blue and red and GREEN! Instead of pink! Rainbow wormiiiiiiieeeees! And Dracula teeth that you can chew on! How weird!" o) Akira was still the only person Shuji knew who could use emoticons in regular speech. In the end though, Akira had insisted on paying for it himself, even though Shuji technically owed him well over three million yen in Nobuta related favors. Shuji thanked whatever deity watched over him that Akira didn't care about money, and didn't expect Shuji to pay him back. At least, he hoped not.

After the shopping trip, they had gone to Shuji's house for dinner. The house was a lot bigger than their apartment in Tokyo had been, and had two floors with more rooms than they were used to. They had after all, been living in Tokyo.

Shuji had done most of the cooking himself, and Akira seemed to love the food, occasionally making comments like, "OISHI! Shuji-kun has Iron Chef cooking skills! Iron Chef Shuuji-kun! The noodles are swimming in my belly!!!". He also seemed to be getting along very well with Koji, who kept asking him questions about martial arts with eyes as large as saucers. Akira was only too happy to answer (with actual physical demonstrations of how exactly you would go about breaking someone's wrist with only your index and middle fingers). His mother seemed to like the boy too. Shuji was surprised; he hardly knew his mother that well himself, except that she liked to sleep a lot when she was home, and she had been to more countries than Shuji had heard of, occasionally bringing them back souvenirs. So it was nice to know she got a long well with his friend, especially since not many people were so quick to warm up to the boy. Shuji mused, Akira might have been a loner, if not for the fact that he suffered from almost permanent and contagious cheerfulness.

Eventually, Akira went home at about 2:00 in the morning, but only after Shuji reminded him that they another day of school in the morning before it was the weekend. Akira had yawned loudly, stretched in uncomfortable-looking ways, said his goodbyes, and headed back to his apartment, much to the dismay of Shuji's parents. Koji would have been just as unhappy, were it not for the fact that he had nodded off 4 hours earlier and had to be carried to bed by Shuji. They were all really starting to get attached to the boy who was practically Shuji's shadow. Of course they had wondered, like Shuji had, why the boy had gone to the trouble of moving to Hokkaido, to the same school, and buying a pricey beach apartment, just so that their son wouldn't be lonely. But after an hour with Akira, they had simply written it off as one of the boy's odd quirks, as part of his apparently unrestrainable loyalty to his friends.

Shuji sat on the windowsill of his new room, marveling at how different everything here. Not only did he have a mediocre view of the sea (which was about half a kilometer away), but he now had a room to himself, rather than sharing with Koji. His brother was only too happy that he had more space to dump his stuff, and that he didn't have to share the same clothing cupboard, which Shuji had always monopolized.

But this new house did have one downside. He couldn't sit on the roof and overlook the city as he went through his usual nightly teeth brushing routine. Shuji adjusted his hair scrunchie and sighed. He was giving up so much. He was leaving behind almost everything that he had grown accustomed to over the years. He had been yanked out of Tokyo, much like his willow had several months ago. Shuji wondered what had happened to his willow, and whether he'd ever get see it again. Who knew, maybe he would. He had wondered only hours ago if he would ever see Akira again, and that had happened, so maybe he could find it some day. If he did, he decided, he and Akira and Nobuta would go see it together.

When he finally got into bed at 2:30, he had many strange dreams as soon as he was asleep. But the one he remembered most vividly, the one that could not shake nor explain, involved Akira. Usually, this wouldn't be a problem. In his dreams, Akira was just as clingy as in real life, but at least he knew Dream Akira would go away if he woke up.

But in this dream, he was…clinging back…

In the dream, Shuji and Akira were on a couch in a large room. There was a cozy fireplace in the middle of the wall in front of them, and they were covered by a big fluffy fleece blanket. There were empty bottles of Akira's favourite soy milk on the table nearby, and plates with remnants of what looked like steak with mushroom sauce. To Shuji's great surprise, it seemed they were holding each other's hands, and Akira was lying with his back against his chest. Even more surprising, was that for once, the boy seemed calm and peaceful. "Shuuji kun…I love you…almost as much as soy milk," he said with satisfied smile.

"Hey, aren't I more important than some beverage?" said a new voice. Shuji realized with a shock that it was his own, because a)they were the only two people in the room, b)it definitely sounded like his voice, and c)his mouth had been moving. Which was strange, because he hadn't tried to speak, and it didn't sound like the kind of thing he would say to Akira while sane, or at the very least, sober.

'Akira is my best friend. He is a guy, not a chick. I'm a guy, last time I checked. That's not my voice! I am straight! Straight! I think…wait, no! I am straight, I am straight! I like girls! Chicks! Breasts and all that! Yeah…that pouty face is NOT cute and seductive! Those eyes are NOT deep and mysterious and-no! I'm straight! …Just because I haven't ever found a girl even remotely hot bef-no! No! I'm straight, damn it!' Shuji thought frantically. 'And why the hell is Akira talking like that? He's straight too! He likes, scratch that, adores girls. He was in love with Nobuta! This is such a weird dream…'

Akira turned to Shuji with a look of fake outrage. "You're making me choose between my mamechichi and Shuji-kun?! Akira SHOCK!"

To Shuji's horror, his mouth and vocal cords, not to mention his face, had betrayed him. They were all moving of their own accord, and Shuji was unable to stop it. "Maybe I should make it a little easier for you to decide…"he said, winking against his will. He tried to push Akira off and run the hell away, but found he still had no control over any of his actions. It was like he was watching someone who looked exactly like him, talked with his voice, and had all of his mannerisms, through their eyes.

To make matters even worse, the body he was currently in seemed to be leaned towards the dream Akira's face. Before he knew it, Akira leaned closer enthusiastically, and their lips locked for a passionate kiss. 'OHGODOHGODOHGOD!' Shuji chanted in his head. 'Why the fuck am I kissing him?! WHY IS HE KISSING ME BACK?!' His body pulled Akira closer as the kiss went deeper. He watched his hands gently clutching Akira's soft-looking brown hair, and the tongue he wished did not look so much like his licking the boy's plump red lips and occasionally diving into his mouth.

Akira pushed him backwards, not wanting to give up control that quickly, and his tongue battled Shuji's for dominance. But eventually he slowed down and let Dream Shuji take the lead again, who, it seemed to Shuji, was a little too eagerly pushing back against Akira and trailing his long fingers under the boys shirt over his well-toned back.

For Shuji, the worst part was that he couldn't tell if he (or really, his dream self) was enjoying this; he could not feel a thing. So he could not tell whether or not that bulge in his dream body's pants was just his imagination. From the looks of things, his dream body was loving this. And if the noises Akira was making were any indication, he was too.

'Was that a moan?' Shuji wondered as his body continued to ravish his friend's mouth. Akira crooned deep within his throat. It sounded low and long and desperate for more. 'Oh god! This is not fair! I'm straight! I like girls! This isn't even really Akira. The real one would've tried to push me off and run off waving his arms like a bird and screaming something weird and incoherent! He wouldn't be sitting there kissing me and giving me that damn "Take me now" look!' he whined inside his head.

"Shuuji-kun…I love you! More than soy milk, daccha!" Akira giggled with a small kon at Shuji's cheek. "Now, are we gonna do it here, or are we moving to the bed, do you think?" he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

One second later, Akira and the rest of the surroundings disappeared mercifully and the dream changed. Shuji was standing next to a chair, surrounded only by a black abyss. He sighed in relief and looked around himself into the empty darkness. He had been about to cry at the complete unfairness of that dream. He had just almost ended up sleeping with Akira. Even if it was a dream, it didn't mean he felt any better about it; he was straight, Akira was boy, and his friend, and definitely NOT a boyfriend. He sat down on the chair, exasperated and wishing that this dream would end so that he could wake up and forget about it. As he sat emo-ing over his misfortune, he spotted someone waving at him from a distance. They jogged close and Shuji gasped.

It seemed to be…another clone of himself. This time, the clone was wearing an outfit that could only be described as "skimpy", or possibly "slutty." It consisted of tight black leather pants and a torn up fishnet top, showcasing the clone's skinny but firm torso. Definitely not Shuji's usual wardrobe. His doppelganger waved at him again.

"Hi! You must be Shuji!" it said with a flirty wink. Shuji frowned. Once again, this person sounded like him too. Great, just great. This one was probably going to try to molest him. Just what he needed; being violated by someone who could have been his eviler, more scantily-dressed twin.

"One second!" he said when the clone tried to speak again. "Who the hell are you, why do you look like me? And just what the hell are you wearing?! Is that black nail polish?! What was all that stuff just before about? I'm straight, why did I have to see that?!" The figure just grinned at him in a way Shuji could never pull off, all teeth and upraised eyebrows. It then proceeded to lick its lips in a highly suggestive way that made Shuji squirm and want to slap the clone.

"To answer your first question…I am your Libido!" it announced as if it was commenting on the weather. Shuji gasped a second time. What the hell?! Why couldn't he have normal weird dreams, he wondered "To answer you other questions, I am part of you, so I naturally look like you. I am wearing my normal clothing. Yes, that is black nail polish, isn't it gorgeous?. And as for that dream you just had, you have the hots for The Pouty-Lipped One. Oh, and you need to get laid. Badly," the libido finished.

Shuji blinked in shock. That was the last thing he was expecting to hear. That seemed to be happening a lot tonight. But really, in love with Akira? Not possible. He hoped… "Psh, 'Pouty-Lipped One?" You mean Akira? That guy? The one who flaps his arms, clings to me like a safety blanket, and goes 'Kon kon!' constantly? That Akira? You think I'm attracted to that?" he said, trying to convince both of them.

No such luck.

His libido grinned even wider, which gave the casual observer the impression that it, or well him, really, was an experienced predator that had just spotted something young and tender straying from its herd and getting hopelessly lost. It was very hard to be a casual observer around such a grin. It was making Shuji uncomfortable; he felt like the figure in front of him was hitting on him again, and he started to fidget with nonexistent loose threads on his clothes.

"Yup. Head over heels. Completely infatuated. Well, I have to go now, take care, ne!" Shuji's libido said with another wink, and disappeared suddenly in an puff of smoke, leaving Shuji alone in the darkness. But even the darkness did not remain long. It was soon swirling ominously and dissolving in a vortex-y kind of way.

He woke up with a start, covered in sweat. He sat up for several minutes, panting and wide-eyed. "HOLY SHIT! That was the weirdest damn dream I've ever had! Man, messed up! What the hell was in that udon?!" he muttered, running elegant fingers through his long hair in irritation. Oh well, it was just a dream. Hopefully it meant nothing. Hopefully…

His thought were disrupted suddenly by an annoying ticking sound at the window. Shuji got up to see what the hell was making so much noise at- he checked the time- 7 o'clock in the morning. He nearly died of shock when Akira's cheery face peered up and him with a little "Kon kon!"

Shuji dived down so Akira couldn't see him. "Fuck," he blushed heavily as he recalled the dream in which they had almost had sex. The mental images currently floating through his brain included moments from the dream in which Akira was moaning in pleasure. "Double Fuck." What would Akira think if he knew Shuji was having dirty thoughts about him, he wondered.

"Shuuji-kun! Found ya!" Akira sing-songed beneath his window, giggling softly. "No playing hide and seek! Shuji-kun needs to get ready for school!" he said waving his finger at his friend like a kindergarten teacher. Akira saw Shuji's head pop out of the window again and he giggled. His friend still wore his hair in a scrunchie, despite the fact that it made him look like a French poodle. He wondered briefly why Shuji looked so flushed and panicky.

"Baka! What are you doing here?! Its 7 o'clock! What time did you wake up, anyway?!" Shuji yelled. Of course, knowing Akira, he probably did this just to annoy him. Well, that's what Shuji thought anyway. As great of a friend Akira was, being irritated came with the package. Sometimes Shuji wondered if he had angered some or other vengeful god, who retaliated by sending Akira to make him turn grey before he hit 20. He stroked his hair protectively at the thought. "Shhh. It's alright. I won't let him hurt you," he whispered to his well-managed locks.

"I'm coming up Shuuji-kun!" Akira sang. Two minutes later he had somehow managed to scale the high wall and climb through the window, much to Shuji's displeasure. Akira then convinced Shuji to make him some breakfast before they rode to school together, just like they used to.

Shuji sighed as he poured himself some coffee and watched Akira wolf down eight pieces of bacon and two eggs in under three minutes. He had no idea how he had ended up cooking for the boy. But then again, Shuji was having trouble concentrating much on anything Akira was saying, thanks to last night's dream. '"Shuuji-kun…. I love you! More than soy milk, daccha!"' his mind echoed sadistically. 'Triple Fuck. Stupid hormones…' He looked at Akira and shook his head. He tried to convince himself that it was just a dream, probably something to do with the salty air, or the tremendous shock of seeing Akira here, making Shuji only capable of thinking about him. Yeah, that was probably it, he thought.

Thoughts can be so confusing.

As they rode to school, the two boys were unaware of the surprise that awaited them at school. Three pairs of eyes peeked out from behind a bush, scanning the area for any sign of the two boys from Tokyo. The eyes belonged to the three girls that had been spying on Shuji and Akira's note-passing session the day before.

"Do you see anything? I can't, and I'm tired of sitting in this fucking bush!" whined Yuriko. She was growing impatient; the sooner they saw either of the two boys, the sooner they could pretend to coincidentally be walking past the bike-stands, and strike up a conversation with them. They planned to flirt like their lives depended on it.

"No! What's taking them so long?! Oi, Sadako, didn't you say you'd try to follow one of them yesterday? What happened, did you get any pictures?" said Ami, attempting to brush the many leaves out of her hair.

"I tried, but both of them of them took a different road and I lost them! I did find out a couple interesting things about them though…the funny thing is, when I snuck into the office get Kusano-sama and Kiritani-kun's addresses...well, Kusano-sama lives really close to school, but he was biking away from where his apartment is supposed to be. With Kiritani-kun," she added nervously.

Yuriko bit her lip. They definitely knew each other. This was not good; there was no way she could date both of them without getting caught if they were this close. That also made her nervous, the fact that she had no idea just how close the were to each other. "It doesn't make any sense at all! They only just got here yesterday, they couldn't be friends already, unless they somehow knew each other before they arrived!" she said, cursing loudly. "This sucks! How are we supposed to seduce them if they never fucking separate?!"

"Shh! I think I see someone coming!" said Ami. "It might be them!" Yuriko looked around with wide eyes. "Quick, hide before they see us!" she said, shoving Sadako against the wall behind them to make room to sit. "Itai…" said the girl, rubbing the spot where she hit the bricks. Sometimes, Sadako wondered why she hung out with Yuriko and Ami, other than the fact that it was better than being in their way.

To their utter disappoint, then horror, it turned out that it wasn't the two boys that they heard coming closer. It was something far worse: their new, quickly growing fanclub. Six girls and two boys carrying cameras and chatting loudly in a language consisting largely of words like "Squee", "OMG", "Kyah!" and "Sugoi!" they moved as a single entity with a purpose: If you see them, tackle them.

The trio cringed. Even Sadako, who had four restraining orders and counting against her, was no match for the horde of many fangirls (and boys) that lurked among the students at their school. They, she admitted, would stop at nothing, nothing, if they saw anyone who had any remotely bishounen-like qualities. If the fangirls were after Kusano and Kiritani, the trio's chances of getting to the boys first just got severely diminished.

Suddenly one of the fangirls yelled, "Look! They're both coming this way! KYAH!!!!! Kusano-sama, Kiritani-sama, WE LOVE YOU!!!!", and Sadako wisely crouched down out of harm's way.

Akira, who had been racing Shuji to school, gaped and felt cold fear run through his body. Yesterday, he had barely escaped from the rabid group of fans now only 100 meters ahead of him. He had an especially hard time getting away from the fanboys, who, it turned out, were on the school track team for the purpose of catching up with their victims faster. Akira had come uncomfortably close to being groped and molested by the psychotic pack of would-be groupies, and dreaded seeing them again. He couldn't even fight back, because although they all seemed a little too friendly, he refused to fight girls.

This time it was significantly worse, he felt. They seem to have taken notice of Shuji, and he would be damned if anyone but him laid hands on his Shuji-kun. He would tear the fanboys limb from limb it they tried anything, and the fangirls…well, he would work that out if the situation presented itself. If push came to shove, he would pick up Shuji and run his ass off.

"Ano, Shuji? You might want to keep biking, ne. These people…they chased Akira yesterday. They don't give up, daccha! Bike, Shuuji-kun! Bike for your life!!!!" he screamed.

Shuji looked Akira, puzzled as to what the guy was screaming about this time. Akira seemed to be trying to tell him something, and wasn't watching where he was going. Shuji stopped peddling and watched as Akira realized too late that he was going to crash into the bike stands. The long haired boy shut his eyes and grimaced as the sound of a loud crash rang through the school grounds and Akira yelled in terror. "SAVE YOURSELF SHUJI-KUN! FORGET ABOUT ME, I'M A GONER!" was the last thing Akira said, before the horde of fans descended on him like locusts on a vegetable crop.

"Kyah! OMG! His skin is soooo soft! Squeeeeeeee! That face is so adorable! OMG! Quick someone tear off his shirt so I can take a picture!" said one girl, hopping up and down energetically taking pictures like crazy. "DEAR GOD! He has an Uke Face!!! Uke Faaaace! Screw the shirt, TAKE OFF HIS PANTS!" said one of the fanboys, causing Akira to go from blushing like crazy to ghost white in two seconds. "Nooooooo!" He tried to wiggle free, but four of the fangirls had an iron grip on his arms and legs. He tried to yank each one of his limb out of their grasp, but evidently, the fanboys weren't the only ones working out.

Akira remembered vaguely seeing three of the girls wearing sports shirts yesterday with the words "Kicking Pandas Karate Team" emblazed in green letters, right before they chased him around the school eight times.

Shuji dropped his bike ran towards the mass of obsessive fans to try and dig out his friend. As funny as it was watching Akira's personal space get invaded for once, it wasn't amusing when he realized the fanclub was not joking about removing Akira's pants. He felt a strange feeling as he rushed to free Akira. It was somewhere between worry and panic and anger at what it sounded like they were going to do to Akira.

Shuji screamed and dove on top of Akira, effectively tearing him out of the girls' arms, and grabbed Akira's hand. It took the girls all of four seconds to figure out what had just happened, before they squealed even louder and made for Shuji. Luckily, those four seconds were just enough for the two boys to get up and start running like all of hell was chasing them.

"Akira! We need to find a hiding spot before they rip our clothes off!!!" he yelled, as they made for the school building.

Eventually, after running through three levels and knocking several people over in the process, they found themselves taking refuge in the music room they had eaten lunch in the day before. Akira locked the door and helped Shuji barricade it with a table, before collapsing on the floor with their heads resting against each other and their backs against the wall.

"Who the hell were those people? Why were they chasing us?" Shuji asked panting and trying to catch his breath. "And why" he added, "were they trying to…uh…strip you?" Shuji felt a blush form on his face. 'Crap, the dream!' He cursed himself for asking that last question.

"F-f-fanclub. They c-chased me y-yesterday cause I landed in a h-helicopter and they wanted to meet me. I d-don't know w-why exactly they w-wanted to take my c-clothes off though…" Akira finished, equally out of breath.

It struck him then that Shuji had just saved him, and a look of pure admiration dawned on his face, eyes sparkling happily. "Shuji saved me, Shuji saved me! Shuji is Akira's hero! Without a white horse…but still, Shuji is Akira's hero!" he sang as hugged Shuji tightly. He clung to the boy and a grinned a 10,000 watt smile.

Shuji looked down at Akira's smiling face and couldn't help but reward the boy with a smile of his own. He laughed at the sight in front of him; if Akira were in a shoujo manga, there would be a background of purple sparkles or roses right now. His deep brown were literally sparkling and a cheesy grin was plastered on his lips. Akira stopped grasping Shuji's middle to see exactly why his friend was laughing and tilted his head slightly in curiosity. "Ne, Shuuji-kun! What's so funny, daccha?" he said.

"N-nothing! Hahaha…its just…your face is so absurd sometimes!" Shuji replied. At that answer, Akira blew up his cheeks indignantly and pouted. "Shuuji-kun! You're so mean! Your face is even more absurd, Bakayarou!" But Shuji just kept laughing at Akira with his cheeks puffed up like a blowfish and his arms flapping like an angry ostrich.

When they heard the bell ring, Akira deflated his cheeks and groaned loudly. "I don't want to leave, its nice in here! It's warm…" he said, grabbing Shuji's arm and holding on to it for dear life. "Shuji! Let's just stay here! Akira is scared of the fangirls…" But Shuji pulled his arm free, got up and said, "Come on, we should probably go, its only the second day of school, we shouldn't miss it. Hopefully, they'll have gone by now"

Akira sighed; there went his chance of a comfortable day wasted sitting in a warm room with Shuji next to him. 'Oh, well, it was good while it lasted,' he thought, and got up to help the other boy push the table out of the way.

Unbeknownst to them, outside the window Yuriko, Ami, and Sadako sat perched in a tree, listening to their every word. "They seem extremely close…we need to find out exactly how they know each other. I'm not wasting another fucking day covered in leaves for either of them, I don't care how fucking pretty they are, or how much money they have, I'm not doing this again!" said Yuriko gritting her teeth. "And why are they never apart?! I swear, Kusano-kun follows Kiritani-kun around like a god damned lost puppy!"

Ami nodded, this was getting pretty tiresome. She almost screamed when she saw a spider crawling on the branch she was sitting, but Sadako put a hand to her mouth to muffle the noise so they wouldn't be discovered. When Ami had calmed down sufficiently, she watched Akira grab hold of Shuji's waist and not letting go. She felt a surge of guilt; the guy should have been holding her like that, like a precious object you couldn't get rid of in a million years. There was definitely something going on between those boys that was a little more than friendliness between two friends.

Sadako sat in the branch above Ami, wondering if she could sneak into their houses for information, so she suggested the idea to the other girls. "No, I have a better idea," said Yuriko. "As soon as they get up to eat lunch, we block the door and ask them ourselves. But try not to act suspicious. We'll find out once and for all if they're available. And if they are, may the best girl -me, of course- win. They're leaving, lets go."

They jumped out of the tree and headed to class, each one thinking of how great it would be with both those two boys as accessories, imagining the looks on the other girl's faces.

That day, time seemed to drag on mercilessly. Shuji and Akira sat in class, once again passing notes to each other about nothing in particular. When the bell rang, they got up to leave and were very surprised to see the door blocked by three Kebai girls with the most obviously fake smiles Akira had ever seen, even more so than Shuji's.

"Ah, Kiritani-kun! We were wondering something…"Ami stated. Shuji raised his eyebrows at the girls that looked like they were going to try to sell him a used car. He tried putting on his own fake smile to make them like him more, but gave up when he saw Akira shaking his head in disapproval. "Yes?" he asked, slightly uncomfortable. "What is it?

"Well, we were just curious…are you and Kusano-kun…um…friends or something?" said Sadako with a suggestive wink. Akira thought it looked rather like there was something wrong with her eyelid, and giggled.

Shuji stared at his friend with a quirked eyebrow. 'Is Akira enjoying this?' he wondered. The guy seemed to be extremely amused by the girl. Shuji couldn't help but feel a little jealous. Akira gave him a thumbs up and mouthed, "Tell the truth Shuji!" Shuji rolled his eyes and answered the question. "Yes, Akira is my friend. We went to school together in Tokyo."

Akira gasped and clutched his heart as if he had just been shot. "SHUJI-KUN! We're best friends! Aren't we Shuji-kun?! We are, right?! You know we are, right?!" he said, panicking at the possibility that Shuji still didn't think they were after almost two years of constant pestering and nearly a whole year of hanging out together with Nobuta. The other boy's eyes grew to the size of saucers at the sight of Akira freaking out. He didn't mean to upset his friend, he had just forgotten to add the word 'best' before 'friend.'

He really regretted that right now, considering the fact that Akira's eye's had just started watering and he genuinely looked like he was going to cry if Shuji said no. He felt the strange and overpowering urge to hug the boy, but decided against it; the girls might jump to the wrong conclusions and start telling everyone that they were together. And that was really something that Shuji did not want after only two days in this school.

"Akira, yes, we are, we are! Best friends, right," he said hastily. "Yeah, sorry." Akira brightened up right away. "Yay! Shuji to Akira! Best friends forever! We can never be apart, daccha!" he yelled. He slung an arm around Shuji's shoulders lazily and nibbled at his nose with a happy "Kon kon!"

The trio of girls watched the boys curiously. They had heard the boys say they were best friends, but they couldn't help but feel there was something unspoken going on between Shuji and Akira that neither was going to bring up in front of other people. It made the girls very nervous to think that they were doomed from the start because there might already be something going on between the boys. Never mind them being friends; the girls would be lucky if they got to date even one of them, if they were already together. Yuriko scowled; the thought of the boys dating made her want to puke.

Then an idea occurred to her; if they were together (and she was starting to think it was very likely they were) she could at least save her pride, break them up somehow, and snatch one of them for herself. After all, a little competition was always welcome, and she would be damned if she lost a hot guy, to a hot guy…again. Now she just had to choose one. So she decided on Shuji, since from what she could see he was the most normal of the two boys. She turned to her friends and whispered something that made them glance over at their targets and giggle mischievously.

"Ah, yes. You and Kusano-kun look really…close. From the same school in Tokyo did you say? Best friends? Wow…and you ended up and the same school. What a wonderful coincidence, eh?" said Ami, voice filled with false sweetness.

"Uh, yes. Can we get through now? We'd like to go eat lunch," said Shuji. He was suddenly very annoyed at the girls and their nice act. He wondered if this was what Akira felt like whenever Shuji pretended to be Mr. Perfect in front of the class back in Tokyo. If it was, his game would have to end soon. Shuji wondered if he could handle living without a mask.

"Oh! Yes, of course, how silly of us, we'll let you get to your lunch. Bye-bye now!" they said, smiling knowingly. They stepped out of the way, and let the boys pass. Shuji and Akira walked, or in Akira's case, bounced, down the hallway to the classroom that was slowly becoming a sort of sanctuary for them, much like the roof in Tokyo was.

"Shuuji-kun! I'm confused! I don't understand girls, do you? AKIRA CONFUSED!" pouted the hyperactive teen. Shuji smiled empathetically. That was something they both agreed on. Women were a confusing species. They asked you to give an honest opinion, then got upset if they didn't like the answer. They spent way too much on things like shoes, and changed their hair more often than seemed healthy. Sometimes they were loud and flirted with him to annoying extents.

And of course, there was the fact that, just like Akira had claimed, it turned out their hearts were made of glass; when their hearts broke, they shattered into myriad of sharp, painful shards that lingered and wounded. Shuji remembered the day he told Mariko that he had never been in love with her, wasn't in love with her, and would never be. He winced, just what the hell could have possessed him to say that? Couldn't he have done it more gently? No, he couldn't have. Unlike Akira, who seemed to understand matters of the heart, he had no experience whatsoever, he knew nothing about love or what it made people do.

That was why Shuji disliked the idea of love initially.

It was uncharted territory.

It wasn't something that happened to him.

Love was something that happened to people like Akira, and his parents, and Chiyo-chan and Gunta. Hell, even Beetle-boy had been in love, although that hadn't gone so well. It seemed to Shuji that love was a double-edged sword. It could make you the happiest, most invincible person in the world, or it could reduce you to a gaunt shadow of the person you used to be, weak and unhappy.

And yet… somehow Shuji was starting to feel like…he wanted to know what it was like to loose control of all yours emotions. Just once, to not know what you were going to do next… Not knowing whether you would be caressed or cast aside once you got boring.

He hoped that he would know how it felt one day.

The idea that he was incapable of love…it scared the crap out of him.

As they went through the doors side by side, Shuji couldn't help but envy Akira, who knew what it was like to love someone. Life and love were so unfair sometimes.

Meanwhile, just up the hall, the nefarious trio of Kebai girls sat plotting out their new plan. "Okay, so there is a little bit of a problem. They're never alone. They always go down the hall to that room, and lock the door. I just checked to see if I could pry it open, but it's no use," Yuriko said, looking disturbed for a second, before continuing. "There's a chance they're…involved with one another, from the way they acted just now. And if they are, they might be trying to hide it. What I suggest, is that we split them up, either way. A way-too-close friend could spoil things," she finished.

Ami brightened up, but Sadako just got worried. "Well, since there is an extra, can I have whoever you don't get? I'm sure the leftover will be heartbroken, and I do love broken boys. They're so needy, and fragile...And either way, I'll have something to brag about!" laughed Ami.

"Whatever. I'm taking Kiritani. You just keep Kusano out of the way." Their leader fiddled absentmindedly with her skirt. She made a mental note to lose some more weight so she could get a shorter one.

Sadako frowned, there were only two boys and she didn't get either of them. She didn't even get the spare boy. "What about me? Why can't I have Kusano?"

Ami and Yuriko looked at each other and grinned. Finally, they could break it to her. They were glad they would finally be rid of her now. "No, sorry! You should have called dibs if you wanted him. And besides, I don't think he's your type…Now that I think about it, you aren't our type either."

They waited patiently for the appropriate look of horror to appear on the girl's over decorated face. They savored it when it came. "How can you do this to me?! We're friends!!! Partners! You can't do this to me!" she cried desperately. As much as she had gotten used to their usually sadistic ways, she couldn't believe they would do this to her, after all she had done for them.

"Correction: we just did. Don't feel too bad, you could always join that fanclub or something. I'm sure you'd fit right in. Bye-bye now!" Ami teased, waving at her with an exaggerated unturned lip.

Sadako got up in silent fury, and ran down the hall. She was outraged. Yuriko and Ami had always treated her like dirt and used her an erin girl, but they had always grudgingly allowed her to hang around them. Now they had crossed the line.

She would do exactly as they said; she would join the fanclub. She had plenty of useful information that the fangirls would love to get their hands on. She would make both girls suffer for what they had done to her, she would make sure they did.

Sadako searched for several minutes until she found what she was looking for, sitting in tree and scanning the school grounds intently for signs of Shuji and Akira, who had closed the curtains in the music room to avoid being tracked down.

'It' was the fanclub's leader. "You there! Yes, you! I want to join the club! And I have some information you might want!" she yelled hotly.

The tall girl perched in the oak tree stared at her for a couple seconds, before grinning and jumping down. She shook a surprised Sadako's hand and chimed "Welcome to the fanclub! I like your spirit. Now, what is this information you have for us, hm?"

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To Be Continued…

Phew! It's done. And I wrote it in between a stressful exam week too. Well, I'm not totally happy with this one, but it is what it is. This is definitely going to be my longest fic ever. It already is, since my average fic is two to three pages long. This is already 29 pages. Wow. I surprised myself. w Several more chapters to come, hold on to your knickers! Again, I apologize for the exaggerated fangirls and boys, but I know for a fact that there are people like this out there. Scary fans. Yeah, I'm not trying to make fangirls look bad. I am very proud of the dream sequence. Although I think I overdid it a little in the Kebai POV in this one. Please, be gentle with comments; I don't write much, but this fic is one of my babies.